Earbud in Your Ear
by fidiot
Summary: Keith was only a few months old when he first heard it. Something was making noise but from where? He didn't understand what the soft melody was. A woman's voice singing delicately in his ear but it wasn't his ear? The sound echoed a tiny bit, confirming that it wasn't him hearing it, it was his soulmate.


**Soulmate au where you can hear every song you're soulmate hears/sings. Klance one-shot.**

 **Trigger warnings: mention of depression and suicide.**

* * *

Keith was only a few months old when he first heard it. Something was making noise but from _where_?

He didn't understand what the soft melody was. A woman's voice singing delicately in his ear but it wasn't his ear?

The sound echoed a tiny bit, confirming that it wasn't him hearing it, it was his soulmate.

Lance heard the faint sound of a radio crackling, trying to keep together as it played older music as if in a car.

As quickly as it started, the music stopped. Lance felt panic for a second then just silence. He could feel sadness but it was like an echo of an emotion. But hey, what did he know? Lance was only three.

"Mamá?" He called. Lance's mother looked up from where she was sitting, only a few feet from the toddler.

"What's up, mijo?" The lights circling the Christmas tree sparkled in her eyes.

"Sad…" Lance pouted but there was something in his tone that made his mother realize it was genuine.

"Why are you sad? It's Christmas Eve!" His mother picked Lance up and started up the stairs. It was about time for bed.

"Not me…"

 _I know you are out there_

 _And I know you can hear_

 _Know that this song is for you_

 _And our paths will cross soon._

Keith it in his ear only hours after he had learned it himself. The soulmate song that everyone learned in kindergarten.

He heard many voices singing it, but Keith tried to find the voice that was singing for him. Only one voice had caught his attention, a medium pitched boy's voice. Keith didn't care if it was a boy or girl, he just wanted to meet his soulmate.

Yeah, he was in his second foster home already. Who wanted to deal with an angry, disobedient, child who didn't know how to be cared for?

Keith, later he realized, he longed for that feeling of love from his soulmate. And his soulmate was his age, and possibly went to the same school.

Lance loved it when his soulmate would hum. Sometimes it was by themself, or sometimes along with a song they were listening to.

In elementary school, Lance would just randomly clock out of the lesson just to listen to the tune, no matter what it was.

This time, he blocked out his teacher during math class. His soulmate was humming again, and it was lone.

He listened to the tune, a short, soft lullabye that held so much emotion everytime Lance heard it. He constantly wondered why it did.

He didn't hear it often in the day though, mostly late at night. But Lance loved it so much he vowed to hum it to his soulmate when he met them, just to show he'd been listening.

Keith would hear all the movies that his soulmate watched, due to there being background music.

His foster homes never deemed him worthy of watching TV, much less movies. Still, he knew who Cinderella and Belle were and what their stories were. His soulmate watched an awful lot of Disney movies.

Later in elementary school, he'd let out a rare laugh when he heard the Star Wars theme for the third time that week. His laugh was not heard often, so whoever Keith called a friend silently thanked his soulmate everytime he did laugh.

12-year-old Lance thought it weird when every December, his soulmate would go silent. No music, not even Christmas songs! He would hear distant music sure, but nothing deliberately played.

He asked his mother about it but she had no answers; this was something only his soulmate knew about. Why would he go silent? What happened?

As he got older, Lance thought up many theories all including a traumatic event. He understood something horrible happened to his soulmate in December, Lance just didn't know what.

Lance would often play songs that conveyed 'Why are you silent?' But never a reply until New Year's Day, normally something along the lines of 'Sorry' followed by the lullabye again.

However, Lance did not give up on his soulmate. In seventh grade, he created a song for his soulmate and sung it every night of December. He named it 'What Happened in December.'

 _You go silent every December_

 _You've done it for as long as I can remember_

 _I don't understand what happened to you then_

 _My heart hurts when it hits deca one_

 _I just want to know what came about that month_

 _I worry when I hear nothing, afraid of going deaf_

 _When we meet, maybe April or maybe September_

 _Will you tell me what happened in December?_

Keith knew he worried his soulmate when he went silent every December. They had wrote a song about it for the love of space! His soulmate had yet to fail in forgetting to sing it to him. Keith had heard it so many times, he would often mouth the words as he heard them, but never dared break his silence.

The first time he heard it, December 1st of seventh grade, at exactly 12 am, was truly the point where Keith started to love his soulmate. He had planned to step off a tall building the next morning but cancelled his plans, vowing to never let them go deaf. The song let Keith get out of the hole of depression he'd somehow dug himself into.

He was only three when his parents died in that awful car crash and he couldn't remember the exact day. He was never given the opportunity to visit their graves to find out. Even if he did, he wouldn't be able to handle it.

By his sixteenth foster home in ninth grade, he was sick of not knowing. He had somehow managed to get back to his hometown, where his parents were buried. His foster parents and brother were the nicest foster family Keith had ever been in. He'd been with them for almost a year, and he had overheard talk of adoption. They didn't know he heard them, so they didn't know about the relieved and happy tears that came afterwards. He could trust them, right?

It was mid-November when he finally asked.

"Mrs. Shirogane?" Finally making the internal decision, Keith looked up from his sushi at his foster mother, who smiled.

"Keith, how many times have I asked you to-"

"-To call you Kaori. Yes, too many times," Keith sighed making Takashi, dubbed 'Shiro,' snort.

"Takashi, manners. What is it, Keith?" His foster father, Takumi, scolded his son then turned to Keith.

"Can- Can we visit my parents' grave?" Keith looked back down at his food, ready to take the rejection.

Shiro, Kaori, and Takumi were shocked. They hadn't known his biological parents were dead, much less that Keith would miss them this much.

"I'm surprised you haven't asked before, Keith," Kaori said lightly, "Of course we can."

Keith looked up in astonishment. He could? The only family he'd asked before was his fourth one. They refused, claiming there was no time.

"Thank you," Keith stuttered out, incredibly grateful for the Shirogane family.

Shiro approached him later that night. "What happened?"

"We all got in a car crash when I was three. I was the only one who made it out, of my parents and five drunk high schoolers. I don't even remember the exact date and no one ever cared to tell me, much less take me to their graves," Keith turned away from Shiro, not wanting him to see him cry.

"Is this why you wouldn't talk last December?"

Keith nodded. Shiro took this surprisingly well, but Keith's hopes of not being pitied were crushed when Shiro winced.

Shiro noticed Keith's change of expression, and quickly shook his head. "Not you, um… Pidge is playing Shakira really loudly in Matt's ear. I think he was sleeping too."

Keith snickered, but felt a pang deep in his heart. Shiro had already met his soulmate, a boy named Matt Holt. Definitely Shiro's soulmate. Matt's sister, Katie who goes by Pidge, Spawn of Satan, and 'you little fucking gremlin' is eccentric, but fun to hang around.

Keith had yet to find the person he already loved.

December came around and Keith stopped listening to music once more. His soulmate continued with their tradition of singing to him every night.

Kaori and Takumi said they would take Keith to his parents' graves when he was ready. After hearing the song for four nights, he was ready. Kaori grabbed her keys wordlessly when Keith told her, and started the car and drove to the local cemetery, stopping only to buy lilies for Keith to put on their graves.

Keith wandered through the lines of graves, trying to find familiar names. There was a family paying respects so Keith tried to avoid that part of the graveyard. It was a large family, so Keith felt self-conscious as he walked through the rows alone.

As he turned to start scanning another line, he spotted them.

 _Krolia Kogane - died December 24, 2003_

 _Tex Kogane - died December 24, 2003_

Christmas fucking Eve. It had to be Christmas Eve. Of all the days in December.

It blended in so well with the song, Lance almost didn't notice it. If he hadn't been listening all month long for any sound from his soulmate, he would've missed it.

It was deathly early on Christmas Eve morning, Lance had been singing his nightly 'What Happened in December' when he heard the humming.

But it wasn't the tune of his song. It was the lullabye his soulmate loved so much. Lance realized that the words of his song worked perfectly with the tune of his soulmate's lullaby. Maybe he had subconciously done that when writing it?

Whatever the case was, this was the first time he heard from his soulmate in any December that he could remember.

He sang longer than he normally did, endlessly looping the tune while his soulmate did the same with their humming. Lance just didn't want them to stop.

They fell asleep listening to each other's voices. They both thought that they could do that forever.

After that night, one resumed his month long silence and the other resumed to sing the song they wrote every night but something had changed between the two.

They loved each other, but they hadn't met. They loved each other, but the closest thing they'd done was hum and sing to each other on Christmas Eve morning.

* * *

* Two years later *

Keith wasn't sure what to do. He was hearing music from two places. One from his ears, and one from his soulmate's.

And not just any music. The same music.

Pidge had dragged him to the mall with two of her friends from Garrison University, Hunk and Lance, were their names. Hunk seemed nice but Lance seemed skeptical of Keith and equally distracted by something. Keith didn't think much of him considering Lance hadn't exactly made the best impression when they first met.

The music was from the mall speakers but it was definitely from two different places.

Keith was torn from his thoughts as Pidge waved her hand in front of his face. "What?"

"I said, do you want to go to Hot Topic now? I promised to buy you something," Pidge reminded him. Hunk and Lance were looking at him as well with expectant expressions.

"Oh, yeah," Keith ran his hand through his hair, slightly embarrassed. He stood up, following Pidge in the direction of Emo Central.

"Why did she promise to buy you something?" Lance asked, falling into line with Keith and Hunk. Pidge was a bit ahead, excited to bother her platonic soulmate, Rover, while he ws working. Lance still seemed distracted.

"Bargaining chip for my presence."

Keith didn't find his statement to be that humorous but apparently the other two found it hilarious. Hunk's laugh was low and shook throughout his entire body but Lance's? Lance's laugh was as clear as the night sky in the desert. Keith almost slapped himself for almost blushing at the Cuban.

"It's true. He wouldn't have come otherwise," Pidge called back, "He likes his couch more than he likes me."

"That couch must be pretty damn comfortable then," Lance joked. It reminded Keith of the kind of jokes Shiro would make. Lance as a whole reminded him of Shiro.

Keith realized he didn't know if Lance had found his soulmate yet. Wait, why did he care?

Keith pushed Lance from his mind as it filled with memories of his own soulmate.

The first time he sung the December song. The Christmas Eve duet.

"-Keith? Hey Kogane!" Keith snapped back to reality once again by Pidge. "What is up with you today? You're never distracted like this."

Keith realized they had entered Hot Topic and were left by the door when Hunk dragged Lance over to the band merch. He also realized that he was hearing the double music again, this time from the store.

It hit him like a brick to the chest.

 _His soulmate was here._

"Pidge, who else is here in this store?" Keith's voice was low and full of some kind of desperation.

Pidge glanced around, "It's just us four plus Rover at the cashier but he's been here the entire time. Keith, what's happening?"

Keith remembered Hunk saying something about a girl named Shay and how he planned the date they were going on in a few days. Hunk has found his soulmate but "Has Lance found his soulmate?"

Pidge frowned, "I don't think so… he's always flirting with anyone pretty so I don't think anyone has stolen him away from that yet. Why?"

"I'm hearing double the music…" Keith muttered, looking over shelves at the Cuban boy. Pidge's eyes widened behind her glasses.

"You- you and Lance? You're sou-" She was cut off by Keith's hand over her mouth.

"I don't know, it could be someone else."

"I doubt it but okay."

"Pidge…"

She took up a defensive stance. "Look man, I'm just saying. There's no one else here who hasn't found their soulmate and honestly, you two seem made for each other. Don't ask how, just listen to me. Here's the plan I came up with literally three seconds ago…"

"Have they actually just been standing by the door this entire time?" Hunk looked back at Keith and Pidge, talking hushed.

Lance stopped thinking about the double music he was hearing, after figuring it was a coincidence. There was something nagging at him when he glanced at the green and red figures. His ocean eyes caught on Keith, who looked like he was panicking a bit.

"Yep."

Hunk glanced at him again, "Are you okay, Lance? You've been unusually quiet and non flirty today."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lance tapped his right temple, "Just a bit loud today. Unusual but nice, I guess?" He shook his head, showing he didn't know how to feel.

"What's playing?" Hunk understood immediately. He knew pretty much everything about Lance's soulmate except the song that Lance had written for them and everything that included that. Meaning Christmas Eve. Lance felt bad for not telling him about that but he needed to keep some things to himself from time to time.

"Um…" For some reason, Lance didn't want to tell Hunk he was hearing double music.

Hunk sensed Lance's hesitation and waved his earlier question off. "It's fine. You don't have to tell me."

Lance smiled gratefully at his best friend, then looked back at Keith and Pidge, still talking by the door. "Let's go get them. Keith might have some emo music recommendations for us."

Hunk chuckled but followed Lance as he internally slapped himself. Why did he say that?!

Keith and Pidge looked up when Lance interrupted, "Whatcha talking about?"

Keith blushed a little when he realized it was Lance talking but Lance assumed that was because he was startled. Nothing else…

Pidge and him both said "Nothing" at the same time, then dragged themselves deeper into the store.

"Hey Keith, what bands would you recommend?" Lance asked, heading back to the band merch, this time Keith in tow. Pidge was showing Hunk matching Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw jackets she had found.

"Um, they've been dead for a while, but My Chemical Romance never gets old," Keith seemed to see an oppurtunity and pulled out his phone and earbuds.

He handed Lance one earbud and tapped his screen a couple times. Lance slipped the earbud in into his left ear as he heard the music start.

He immediately recognized the song as his soulmate listens to it a shit ton. "This is My Chemical Romance? I've heard a ton of their songs but never knew the band or titles." He asked Keith, who nodded.

Lance listened to the song all the way through, loving how the vocals would constantly switch between right ear and left ear. He told Keith this who frowned in reply.

"Lance… I have the right earbud."

Keith watched as Lance's eyes widened. Those beautiful ocean blue eyes.

Pidge's plan had worked.

"I- I was talking about all the times I'd heard it before and-" Lance started stammering.

"Lance."

Keith almost ended up giggling at Lance continuing to stumble over his tongue.

"-I've heard it before and that was my favorite thing about that song," Lance somehow didn't stop talking. Does he ever? "Y-You do believe me, right?"

"Of course I believe you've heard it before Lance," Keith showed a small rare smile, "because I know you heard it from me."


End file.
